Edward Hopper House Art Center will present an exhibition of 20 original letters from Alta Hilsdale (1884-1948) to Edward Hopper (1882-1967) that document their previously unknown romantic relationship and provide a new context for understanding the work he created during the decade the letters span, 1904-14.

The exhibit presents the original letters from Hilsdale alongside reproductions of work Hopper created during their relationship to illustrate the autobiographical nature of the art and demonstrate how the works from “the Alta years” influenced later masterworks.

The complete collection of letters will be presented for the first time in My Dear Mr. Hopper, edited and with an Introduction by Elizabeth Thompson Colleary, published by the Whitney Museum of American Art in association with Yale University Press. The book will be released in May.

This exhibition is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.